Here’s a cover of a song I really love by Rihanna. I’ve been playing this for a while around my apartment, however, I had to speed it up quite a bit and remove some parts in order to fit it into this one-minute format. This version is faster, less sparse and less country than I usually play it.

While working on this episode, I found that if you look up the lyrics to this song online, the text in the seventh line is different on Rihanna’s website than it is elsewhere. Her site lists it as “I’m turnt up upstairs and I love you,” while several other sources have the line as “I’m turnt up off sizz and I love you.” Either way, it means she’s wasted, but the latter version means she’s been freebasing oxycontin or heroin off of aluminum foil. Whoa.

On her record both lines sound plausible, but I’m gonna lean toward the official version that she’s just wasted upstairs and keeping it safe with some good old whiskey and weed. Though Rihanna might not even be the person in the song at all, as she shares the writing credit with six other people.

The beautiful guitar pictured above that I play on this recording was built by my sister Greta Ritcher about twenty years ago. It is a joy to have around.